James is a social science researcher in water and environmental governance, with a cross-disciplinary background spanning social and natural sciences. His core research theme is understanding social and political change for sustainability. Key theoretical lenses through which he explores this theme include: institutional change, collective action, adaptive governance, and sustainability transformations.

Before joining IVM, James was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Waterloo, Canada, and conducted his PhD research at the University of Queensland, Australia. Prior to this, he was a Research Consultant in urban water policy and planning at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney, and was originally trained in civil and environmental engineering at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

James is a Research Fellow of the Earth System Governance project, and a Fellow of the Future Earth young scientists programme. He has organised workshops at several international conferences, and contributed to public engagement on sustainability issues in forums such as The Conversation and The Guardian science-policy blog.